Rating: 
Summary: ONE FINE MESS OF A BOOK
Review: +++++
I found the title of this book interesting so I thought that its contents would be equally interesting.
When I finished reading chapter 3 about the "rabbit-eater," I wanted to learn more about this genius. So I went to the References (the author calls it "Further Reading") section. I was surprised to learn that there were NO references for this chapter! Where did the author get the information for this chapter? My interest was aroused!!
What I did was survey the reference section to see how many references each chapter had. (I excluded chapter 15 but included both appendices in my survey.) Each chapter should have a MINIMUM of three to four references.
I found that about 40% of the book had an inadequate number of references (in fact, two chapters had NO references) and about 30% of the book had a minimal number of references!
The bottom line is that about 70% of this book is poorly referenced!!!
The following highlights other problems:
(1) THE BOOK'S TITLE. I interpreted the term 'Strange Brains' in the book's title to mean that the book was to describe the physical structures of genius' brains. I was disappointed to find that in the book's preface it states, "this book will not explain great scientists' behavior in terms of brain anatomy." Then, why wasn't this book called "Strange Behaviors and Genius?"
This brings up another question. In chapter 14, the author defines a genius as having an intelligence quotient (IQ) "greater than 140." Some of the people he profiles and mentions lived when IQ tests did not exist. How would the author (or anybody) know that they were true geniuses?
(2) THE BOOK'S PREFACE. The preface states the premise of the entire book as a question. It asks, "Can mental illness convey great advantages to great scientists?" Then amazingly, the author answers this question in the next sentence: "Most scientists do not exhibit bizarre behavior [that is, mental illness] and most people do not possess extraordinary creativity [that is, have great advantages]." Then, why was this book written?
This brings up yet another question. The book's subtitle states that scientists will only be discussed. But the book's preface clearly states that "scientists, inventors, and philosophers" will also be discussed. The book even discusses artists. Then why doesn't the subtitle read "The Secret Lives of Eccentric People?"
(3) OBSESSIVE-COMPULSIVE DISORDER (OCD). An entire chapter (chapter 10) is devoted to OCD. As I was reading this chapter, I found that the author was equating and confusing OCD with obsession. OCD is not the same as obsession.
Also, this chapter is entitled "Obsession?" WHY? The author clearly states at the beginning of this chapter that it will "explore obsessive-compulsive disorder itself."
This confusing of OCD with obsession can be found throughout the entire book. For example, in appendix B the author describes a scientific magazine article that was on OCD. Yet he titles his description "The Anatomy of Obsession."
(4) THE BOOK'S ORGANIZATION. The book is poorly organized because some chapters are included in the wrong place or a chapter is an appendix and vice versa.
For example, appendix A entitled "Runners-Up List" briefly discusses eight more people that had strange behavior and were geniuses. This information is relevant to the premise of the book. Why is this information in an appendix at the back of the book? Shouldn't this information have its own chapter near the book's beginning?
(5) DRAWINGS. The book contains many drawings. However, many of the drawings don't need to be included in the book. The inclusion of some of these drawings is even comical.
For example, chapter 4 profiles a genius who was afraid of flies. Amazingly, the author includes a drawing of flies to highlight this point! Chapter 5 profiles a genius who made friends with rats. Guess what the author draws to highlight this point?
There are numerous other problems with this book.
In conclusion, this is a poorly referenced, poorly organized, and confusing book that has many problems. This book is truly ONE FINE MESS.
+++++
Rating: 
Summary: This book is incredible.
Review: I have obsessive-compulsive disorder. My friend Tammy has temporal lobe epilepsy and bipolar disorder (manic depression). Strange Brains and Genius covers these disorders in detail, and we both read this amazing book several times. This book discusses genius in art and science. These geniuses suffered as we do but have changed the world for the better. The book has profoundly changed us. Please buy this wonderful gem of a book and learn about the limits of what it means to be human, and how disorders like ours can sometimes be a blessing -- because they can enhance creativity -- as well as a curse. Clifford Pickover, the author, of this book, is the biggest genius of all!
Rating:
Summary: How the brains of excentric people work!
Review: Strange Brains and Genius is by far the best book I have read that catalogues numerous examples of the fine line between genius and frailty in a wide range of colorful and influential people. Nikola Tesla had a horror of women's pearl earrings. Oliver Heaviside, the father of modern electric-circuit design, painted his nails cherry pink. Renowned scholar Samuel Johnson had so many tics and quirks that some mistook him for an idiot. Jeremy Bentham, the British philosopher who promoted the idea, "the greatest good for the greatest number of people", fell in love with rats. He also advised rich people to plant embalmed corpses of their ancestors upright along highways. There apparently is a link between extreme genius and madness in certain individuals. Pickover also goes further and discusses the role of the brain in religious and alien abduction experiences. Pickover points out that in repressive times, strange geniuses have been persecuted, but in more enlightened eras these nonconformists have had the freedom to make great contributions to science and society. Are their minds like our own, or are they so different that these geniuses should be viewed as entirely different beings? What do geniuses have in common, and how can we foster their continued emergence? Is their a link between their obsessions and their creativity? This book is organized into three parts. In Part I, Pickover discusses several geniuses with obsessive-compulsive (and Asperger's) tendencies. Many of the individuals might have Asperger's syndrome (characterized by an impairment in social interaction and development of restricted and repetitive patterns of behavior, interests, and activities). Part II is smorgasbord of short subjects ranging from IQ to the influence of the brain's structure on behavior. Part III discusses how individuals were selected for this book and describes the effect of other disorders such as bipolar disorder and temporal-lobe epilepsy on creativity, religion, and even the alien abduction experience. Buy this amazing book and go beyond "A Beautiful Mind"
Rating:
Summary: Beyond a Beautiful Mind
Review: Strange Brains and Genius is by far the best book I have read that catalogues numerous examples of the fine line between genius and frailty in a wide range of colorful and influential people. Nikola Tesla had a horror of women's pearl earrings. Oliver Heaviside, the father of modern electric-circuit design, painted his nails cherry pink. Renowned scholar Samuel Johnson had so many tics and quirks that some mistook him for an idiot. Jeremy Bentham, the British philosopher who promoted the idea, "the greatest good for the greatest number of people", fell in love with rats. He also advised rich people to plant embalmed corpses of their ancestors upright along highways. There apparently is a link between extreme genius and madness in certain individuals. Pickover also goes further and discusses the role of the brain in religious and alien abduction experiences. Pickover points out that in repressive times, strange geniuses have been persecuted, but in more enlightened eras these nonconformists have had the freedom to make great contributions to science and society. Are their minds like our own, or are they so different that these geniuses should be viewed as entirely different beings? What do geniuses have in common, and how can we foster their continued emergence? Is their a link between their obsessions and their creativity? This book is organized into three parts. In Part I, Pickover discusses several geniuses with obsessive-compulsive (and Asperger's) tendencies. Many of the individuals might have Asperger's syndrome (characterized by an impairment in social interaction and development of restricted and repetitive patterns of behavior, interests, and activities). Part II is smorgasbord of short subjects ranging from IQ to the influence of the brain's structure on behavior. Part III discusses how individuals were selected for this book and describes the effect of other disorders such as bipolar disorder and temporal-lobe epilepsy on creativity, religion, and even the alien abduction experience. Buy this amazing book and go beyond "A Beautiful Mind"
Rating: 
Summary: Raining on the parade: author is instrusive and tiresome
Review: After a friend reacted to the book in the exact same way as me, I decided to pass this along. Subject matter is hugely interesting, but Pickover seems most interested in himself, in his cutesy writing style, in showing off unnecessarily grandiloquent vocabulary, in categorizing and putting in boxes.... in fact, the "subjects" were treated just that way, as subjects. How interesting if someone like Dr. Oliver Sacks, who is interested in their humanity, might treat these folk at the far end of the continuum of human behavior. I couldn't even finish Pickover's treatment.
Rating:
Summary: A pathway through genius and madness
Review: I just finished this impressive and fun book. I think what makes it fascinating is that readers can learn about the obsessive and bizarre personalities of some of the greatest geniuses of our time: Einstein, Tesla, Bentham, Kirwan, Heaviside, Johnson, Galton, Pyke, and many more. Is there a link between genius and madness? I think that Pickover shows that there is often some linkage. What role does the brain play in alien abduction, religious experience, UFOs, and cryonics? Where is Einstein's brain? The book is quirky and ranges over lots of different topics. Quite an education. The best part dealt with religious people having temporal lobe epilepsy.
Rating:
Summary: A pathway through genius and madness
Review: I just finished this impressive and fun book. I think what makes it fascinating is that readers can learn about the obsessive and bizarre personalities of some of the greatest geniuses of our time: Einstein, Tesla, Bentham, Kirwan, Heaviside, Johnson, Galton, Pyke, and many more. Is there a link between genius and madness? I think that Pickover shows that there is often some linkage. What role does the brain play in alien abduction, religious experience, UFOs, and cryonics? Where is Einstein's brain? The book is quirky and ranges over lots of different topics. Quite an education. The best part dealt with religious people having temporal lobe epilepsy.
Rating: 
Summary: Unusual actions of people who think differently
Review: If a strange brain is by definition one that is outside the "norm" then that of a genius is strange by definition. Incremental progress in fields of human endeavor is generally the purview of those whose thoughts reside within the standard band. However, the great leaps are often performed by those whose minds work differently, generating thoughts that are sometimes great. However, there still appears to be some form of 80/20 "rule" that applies to genius as well. This refers to the situation where 80 percent of the work is done by 20 percent of the workers. Applied to the strange brains, this means that 80 percent of what these brains generate is very unusual and often counterproductive. While Pickover does mention the successes, the bulk of this book is an examination of the unusual 80 percent.
The personalities described here range from the Unabomber Ted Kaczynski to the electrical genius Nikola Tesla. It is fascinating to read of the odd nature of these people. Clearly, if it were not for the tremendous creative talents that they exhibited, drugs and extended time in a lockup would have been their lot in life. It is a well-known principle of science that to begin to understand phenomena, you first examine the unusual cases. That most likely holds true in the understanding of genius as well. If cases like this are examined, it may be possible to learn why some brains seem to perform better than others.
This is a book about unusual people rather than the science that their talents produced. For that reason, this is a book about scientists that everyone can enjoy. Although at times, it may appear to be something that would best be read in Halloween style circumstances.
Rating:
Summary: Sloppy Writing and Scholarship: An Insult to Great Figures
Review: It is hard to imagine that a book with such promising and interesting subject matter could be executed in a poorer fashion. Pickover repeatedly blows his credibility with unsubstantiated speculations and personal comments. He writes the book in a first person sense with frequent interjections of "I think..." and "What interests me...". Within the first few pages, not only are his research methods and facts called into question, but one starts to wonder if even his personal credentials are legitimate. The content of the book, kindly refered to in the editorial review as "eclectic", is a scattershot collection of Pickover's ramblings as muddled as the books front cover. Apparently, the title "Strange Brains and Genius: The Secret Lives of Eccentric Scientists and Madmen" was neither vague nor general enough for Pickover who, midway through the book, drifts off into such varied subjects as cryonics and UFO abduction. The unforgivable disgrace of this book comes from Pickover's reduction of intellectual giants to "Strange Brains" as he revels in the dirty little details of great scientist's lives. Frequently the narrative takes the tone of mocking these men and women of history for their personal habits. Pickover writes in the schoolyard manner (and quality) of singling people out because of their differences and ridiculing them. This vice is then combined with a tabloid sense of sensationalism and sold behind a glossy cover. If, after reading these reviews, you are still set on buying this book - more power to you. If you are interested in a more scholarly and objective examination of creativity and genius, however, consider "Creating Minds" by Howard Gardner
Rating:
Summary: Sloppy Writing and Scholarship: An Insult to Great Figures
Review: It is hard to imagine that a book with such promising and interesting subject matter could be executed in a poorer fashion. Pickover repeatedly blows his credibility with unsubstantiated speculations and personal comments. He writes the book in a first person sense with frequent interjections of "I think..." and "What interests me...". Within the first few pages, not only are his research methods and facts called into question, but one starts to wonder if even his personal credentials are legitimate. The content of the book, kindly refered to in the editorial review as "eclectic", is a scattershot collection of Pickover's ramblings as muddled as the books front cover. Apparently, the title "Strange Brains and Genius: The Secret Lives of Eccentric Scientists and Madmen" was neither vague nor general enough for Pickover who, midway through the book, drifts off into such varied subjects as cryonics and UFO abduction. The unforgivable disgrace of this book comes from Pickover's reduction of intellectual giants to "Strange Brains" as he revels in the dirty little details of great scientist's lives. Frequently the narrative takes the tone of mocking these men and women of history for their personal habits. Pickover writes in the schoolyard manner (and quality) of singling people out because of their differences and ridiculing them. This vice is then combined with a tabloid sense of sensationalism and sold behind a glossy cover. If, after reading these reviews, you are still set on buying this book - more power to you. If you are interested in a more scholarly and objective examination of creativity and genius, however, consider "Creating Minds" by Howard Gardner
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